


No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

by Aeshna_cyanea



Category: Lucifer (TV), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Faeries - Freeform, Feelings, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-06 02:19:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11590914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeshna_cyanea/pseuds/Aeshna_cyanea
Summary: Maze inadvertently does some very powerful and capricious beings a big favor, and receives an unasked-for and very much unwanted gift in return. Can Lucifer help her deal with it? And who is Maze's mysterious friend?





	No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Lucifer was just about to enjoy his morning coffee when his phone rang. Even without looking at the display, he could tell by the ringtone that the caller was Maze. Wondering what his demon wanted now, he picked up the phone and answered.  
  
"Yes, Maze?"  
  
"Lucifer."  
  
Her tone made him sit up straight. She sounded close to tears. He could hear her breathing in short, sharp gasps. Dread filled him.  
  
"Lucifer, I need you to come here at once. Please!"  
  
"Maze, what's wrong? Has something happened to the Detective?"  
  
That got him a short, mirthless laugh.  
  
"Chloe is fine. Nothing has happened to her. I'm the one who needs your help."  
  
He sighed in relief that the Detective was alright.  
  
"Maze-"  
  
She interrupted him before he could get any further.  
  
"Lucifer, please! Please come here, I, I can't deal with this alone."  
  
There were definitely tears in her voice now, as well as a note of hysteria that made something clench in his chest. He had never heard her sound like this before. Instinctively, his own tone became soothing.  
  
"Alright, Maze, I'm coming. You're at home, right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I'll be there as quickly as possible."  
  
With that, he ended the call, slipped on his suit jacket, and headed down to his car.  
  
****  
  
When he arrived at the apartment his demon shared with Detective Decker, Lucifer simply led himself in. The moment he passed through the front door, he was greeted by the sight of the Detective pacing agitatedly, with her phone pressed to her ear. Before he could announce his presence, his own phone started ringing in his pocket.  
  
At the sound, she whirled around and a look of relief spread across her face as she saw him. She put down her phone, and his own stopped ringing, making it clear that she had been trying to call him.  
  
"Lucifer! Oh thank God you're here." She continued before he could voice his usual protest at the mention of his father. "Something's wrong with Maze. I heard crashing from her room, but she's locked the door and won't let me in to look after her. And she won't tell me what happened. I was just trying to call you."  
  
She frowned suddenly as a thought occurred to her. "Why are you here anyway?"  
  
"Maze called me and asked me to come. She said she needed my help, but didn't tell me why. I'd better go see her."  
  
With that, he headed for his demon's room, the detective following him. When he got there, he knocked on the door and called out. "Maze?"  
  
"Lucifer?"  
  
"Yes. Can I come in?"  
  
Without waiting for her answer, he willed the door lock open and turned the knob, but found that the door wouldn't move.  
  
"Is Chloe out there with you?"  
  
"Yes, she is."  
  
"Make her go away. I'm opening the door for you only."  
  
He exchanged a helpless look with the detective, who grimaced but nodded in agreement and retreated back to the living room.  
  
"Alright, she's gone."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"You have my word, Maze. Now let me in."  
  
The door opened slowly. Lucifer lost no time squeezing through the widening gap. As soon as he was inside, his demon closed and locked the door again. He turned around to face her, impatient to find out what it was all about, only to stare open-mouthed. He didn't know what he had expected, but certainly not the sight that greeted him.  
  
Mazikeen was standing with her side to him. She was holding onto the door jamb to keep herself upright. This was necessary because there was a pair of wings sprouting from her back. Huge, fluffy, pristine white angel wings. For one moment, he wondered if his demon had somehow, through some particularly sick celestial joke, ended up with his own wings. The ones on her back look exactly the same. Almost exactly. Looking closer, he noticed one difference. The feathers of his wings had glowed from within with the pure, golden-white light of divinity. The feathers of Maze's wings were glowing softly, too. But their light was silver-white. It reminded him of the first frost on a crisp autumn morning, or of moonlight on freshly fallen snow.  
  
"Bloody fucking Hell!"  
  
Maze just grimaced in response.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I don't know! When I went to bed last night everything was normal, and this morning I woke up with these cursed things!"  
  
She turned towards him and gestured behind her. Unfortunately, this made the wings move, too. Unaccustomed as she was to the sudden shifting of the large appendages, Maze promptly lost her balance and started to fall. Instinctively, she tried to brace herself, which made the wings move again, flaring out only for the right one to slam into the wall almost immediately, while the left one managed to open more than halfway before hitting the bed. Both impacts made her hiss in pain, and only increased her agitation, while doing nothing to stop her fall.  
  
Lucifer sprang forward quickly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against his chest to steady her. Maze clung to him with crushing strength as she tried to regain her equilibrium. He murmured soothingly into her ear, doing his best to help her calm down and get some small measure of control over her new appendages.  
  
After several long minutes, his demon loosened her hold on him and carefully took a small step away.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome, my darling."  
  
He gently guided her over to the foot of her bed and helped her arrange the wings as she sat down. Then he pulled over a chair and sat down opposite her.  
  
"Alright. You said you woke up with the wings. Did anything unusual happen to you yesterday?"  
  
"No. Nothing that could explain this."  
  
The frustration was clear in Maze's tone. Lucifer could sympathize. Waking up to find yourself suddenly changed, with no explanation, must have been a terrifying experience.  
  
"Okay. Describe your day to me. What did you do?"  
  
She shrugged.  
  
"I spent most of the day tracking down a particularly nasty piece of human trash. Caught him just as he was about to hijack a bus full of little kids." A feral grin crossed her face. "Took him down hard, then dragged his sorry ass to the next police station. Dealt with the paperwork there, got my check, came home. Took a shower, had dinner with Chloe and the little terror, played a bit with some of my toys, went to sleep. Woke up with fucking wings."  
  
Lucifer sighed. "You're right, none of that explains it. But there must be some reason why you suddenly have wings, and I promise you that I will do everything in my power to help you find out."  
  
Maze gave him a grateful smile, but before she could say anything, a new voice broke in.  
  
"I think I can explain what happened, actually."  
  
Lucifer whirled around to face the potential threat. A man was standing in the corner of the room, with no indication how he had gotten there. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, tall - though not quite as tall as Lucifer himself- and pale-skinned, with wavy brown hair and blue eyes. He was clean shaven and dressed in a three piece suit, complete with tie. The devil's discerning eye identified the suit as bespoke work from Savile Row.  
  
"Ianto!"  
  
Lucifer's eyebrows shot up as Maze launched herself at the man, not to attack him, but to hug him fiercely. The man, 'Ianto' apparently, returned the hug with a smile.  
  
"Mazikeen. It's good to see you, despite the circumstances."  
  
The stranger spoke with a noticeable Welsh accent.  
  
"Ianto." Maze pulled back slightly and looked straight at the man before her. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Just the question I was about to ask myself," Lucifer interjected, drawing their attention to him.  
  
Ianto sighed, the smile leaving his face. "I heard what happened and came at once. Thought you'd like some explanations, and whatever help I can give you."  
  
The devil glared at the other man. "You knew about this?"  
  
"I only learned about it after the fact. If I had known beforehand, I swear I would have done everything in my power to try and stop it. Though I don't know if I would have been successful."  
  
"Why?" Maze gave the man a questioning look.  
  
"Because the beings who did this to you are highly capricious." He held up a hand when they both opened their mouths to ask questions. "Perhaps it would be best if you let me tell you what I know, and then asked any questions that remained?"  
  
Maze nodded at that, though she was clearly not happy with it. Lucifer stayed quiet. She was the one this had happened to, so it was only fair to let her decide how to handle it.  
  
Seeing that they had reached a temporary agreement, Ianto carefully guided Maze back to the bed and helped her sit down again. Then he began his explanation.  
  
"Am I correct in saying that yesterday, you stopped a man who was about to hijack a bus full of young children?"  
  
When Maze nodded, he continued.  
  
"Among those children was one special girl. Not special because of any particular abilities she herself possesses. Special because she has caught the interest of a group of extremely powerful, capricious and volatile supernatural beings. Humans have called them by various names over the centuries, but the one you may be familiar with is faeries."  
  
Lucifer scoffed. "What, Tinkerbell?"  
  
"No." Ianto's tone was cold and deadly serious. "These beings are not cute little harmless sprites. They are extremely dangerous and powerful, and will kill at the least provocation, or even just for fun."  
  
He glared at the devil. "If you should ever have the misfortune of encountering them, even you would be well advised to tread carefully. Now, may I continue?"  
  
When Lucifer remained silent, Ianto turned his attention back to Maze.  
  
"Somehow, for some reason I do not know, there are certain human children who catch the attention of the faeries. Or maybe the children somehow call them. At any rate, the faeries will make contact with these special children, befriend them, play with them, and ultimately invite them to join the faeries in their own lands."  
  
"Those lands are something that is connected to this world, but separate from it. Bits of the past and the future of this world, stolen moments, bits of parallel universes, all jumbled together and untethered by time. There are many names for them. The Lost Lands. Neverland or the Nevernever. The Isles of the Blessed. The Lands Beyond the Horizon. The faeries themselves call them The Wild."  
  
Here, Lucifer interrupted once again. "As in 'Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild'?"  
  
"Precisely. Yeats actually knew a bit about what he was talking about there."  
  
"And these faeries just take the children there?" There was a note of anger in Lucifer's voice.  
  
"No. They invite them to join them there. It is the child's decision whether to accept that invitation or not. The faeries do not trick or coerce the children they choose. Each child has to decide of its own free will to join them. Many of them do, because Chosen Ones are usually children who are unwanted, neglected, abused in this world. But not all of them choose to go, and those who don't get to live out their lives here on Earth, free of any repercussions.  
  
Now, the important part for our story is that the faeries treasure those children, and are fiercely protective of them. Anybody who hurts such a child will face their vengeance. Very often, this means that they kill the perpetrators, usually by shoving red rose petals down their throat and windpipe until they suffocate."  
  
Both the devil and the demon raised their eyebrows at that.  
  
"This is what has happened to the man you caught, by the way. He died last night in police custody. Now, as I said, the faeries are very protective. But they are not always with their Chosen Ones. They weren't there yesterday when that man tried to hijack the bus, otherwise they would have intervened. Instead, you were the one who stepped in and saved the kids. In doing so, you inadvertently did them a great favor, and put them into your debt. The wings are their way of rewarding you, and repaying the debt."  
  
"What?!" Maze was clearly outraged. "If they wanted to reward me they could have just gotten me some money or jewelry or something. I don't want to have fucking wings!"  
  
"I know. Let me explain. I said you did them a favor, but that is not a good thing. It put them in your debt, and debt is an extremely serious matter for faeries. Especially a debt of this magnitude."  
  
He shushed her when she opened her mouth to interrupt again.  
  
"I told you they treasure their Chosen Ones. You saved the life of one. That requires them to repay you with something of equal value. A Chosen One's life is practically invaluably precious to them. You see, those Chosen Ones who decide to join them, they become faeries themselves. So, however inadvertently, you placed them in debt to you for something that is almost impossible to repay. That angered them considerably. The fact that this debt meant that they couldn't do anything to you only made it worse."  
  
"That still doesn't explain why they gave me wings!"  
  
Maze was clearly getting impatient. Lucifer could sympathize.  
  
Ianto smiled gently. "I'm getting to that. They learned about what had happened from the girl, of course. She told them all about it, especially the role you played. She called you her guardian angel."  
  
The demon groaned as realization hit. "That's what made them give me these stupid wings, isn't it?"  
  
Ianto nodded. "Yes. The kid actually told them you should have wings. The faeries are always keen to fulfill any wishes their Chosen Ones have, and this one came with the added bonus of giving them the opportunity to get rid of their debt to you, and also get revenge on you for putting them in their debt. They know very well that - as a demon - you would not be happy with angel wings on your back."  
  
"Damn right." Maze growled. "So what do we do now? I'm not keeping those bloody things. How do I get rid of them?"  
  
Her friend sighed. "That is complicated. Before you suggest it, you can't just cut them off. Apart from the damage that would do to you, it would be a grave offence against the faeries, and they would love the chance to get vengeance on you."  
  
"And that means there is no chance of persuading them to take them back, either." Lucifer interjected.  
  
Ianto nodded. "No. And even if we could somehow persuade them to take them back, whatever they demanded in return would probably be worse."  
  
"But there must be a way for me to get rid of these blasted wings!" Maze was sounding desperate.  
  
"I think there is one way it could be done, but it will be difficult. You can't just reject the wings, and you can't give them back. But you could give them to someone else, as long as the other person takes them on willingly and in the full knowledge of what it is they are agreeing to. It would be a gift from you to this other person, and that is permitted."  
  
Hope shone in the demon's eyes as she looked at her friend. "Would you-"  
  
Ianto interrupted her before she could say any more. "Unfortunately, I can't. The consequences of me accepting such a gift from you would be catastrophic, and not just for me. I really wish I could."  
  
"But why?"  
  
The question came from Lucifer. Maze had slumped down on her bed, apparently accepting her friend's rejection unquestioningly.  
  
"It's rather complicated, but the short version is that there are certain rules, laws, that faeries and other related creatures are bound by. One of them is that what one faery or group of faeries has given as a gift, another one is forbidden from taking, even if the recipient of the gift wants to give it to the second faery out of their own free will."  
  
"You mean you are a faery, too?"  
  
"No. Absolutely not." Ianto sighed. "My ancestry is complicated, not the least because I don't actually know all of it. But one line of my ancestors includes some individuals who belong to a species that is distantly related to these faeries and subject to the same rules and laws. Apparently, that lineage is enough for me to be bound by some of those laws, too."  
  
"So we need to find someone else that Maze can give her wings to. Well, that shouldn't be too difficult. There are lots of humans out there who dream of having wings. Foolish of them, but it works in our favor."  
  
Maze perked up at that, but Ianto sighed once again. "Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Maze's wings aren't just ordinary wings. By that I mean they are not just physical things, or even ordinary angel wings with limited power. Remember, the debt the faeries repaid with those wings was enormous. To be an adequate repayment, the wings had to be worthy, which means powerful."  
  
Lucifer's face turned pale. "You mean..."  
  
"Yes. When the Chosen One described Maze as her guardian angel, she actually gave her friends an example. 'Like the archangel Michael', is what she said."  
  
"Bloody fucking Hell."  
  
This time, the curse came from the demon.  
  
"You mean I have archangel wings on my back?!"  
  
"Yes. For all practical purposes, those wings are every bit as powerful as the wings of any real archangel."  
  
Lucifer stared at him. "But how is that possible? Our wings are a gift from our father, imbued with his divine powers, permanently connected to him. How could those faeries create something like that?"  
  
"They didn't, not exactly. They used a different power source, which is just as strong."  
  
"Some sort of other god?" Lucifer's mind was reeling.  
  
"No. The wings aren't connected to any sort of being. Such a connection, leaving the owner of the wings completely at the mercy of that other being, is anathema to the faeries. Instead, the wings are connected with a place. They draw their power directly from The Wild."  
  
The man paused for a moment, and then continued. "And that power is what makes this so difficult. You both know what kind of effect just seeing archangel wings would have on a human. There is no way one of them could actually take them on without being destroyed by the power."  
  
Ianto suddenly turned towards Lucifer, looking at him intently. "However, there is one person here who would be uniquely qualified to accept this pair of wings. The question is, are you willing to do it?"  
  
The devil stared at the other man as the meaning behind his words sunk in. He opened his mouth to reject the idea, but then his gaze drifted over to his demon. Maze was sitting at the edge of the bed, staring at him with such an expression of desperate hope that it made his insides clench. He hesitated.  
  
As he stared at her, he saw her hope begin to crumble. An almost physical pain shot through him, and he suddenly remembered her mirthless laugh earlier over the phone when he had asked if anything was wrong with the detective, and the way she had begged him to come help her. She clearly expected him to refuse to do this for her. She didn't think he would be willing to help her.  
  
It hurt. Especially since he had been about to prove her right. She had been his loyal companion for millennia, his only friend when even his own family had thrown him out and shunned him, and here he was, about to refuse to help her the one time she needed him. As if she wasn't worth it. As if he didn't care about her at all.  
  
No. He couldn't do that to her. Because he did care about her. He cared about her a lot. He vowed then and there that he would be a better friend to her from now on. Someone who actually deserved the title friend, someone who didn't just expect her to be there for him, but was there for her, too. Starting right now.  
  
"Yes. Yes, I am willing to do it."  
  
The smile that spread over Maze's face was blinding. She launched herself at him, nearly knocking him over as she threw herself into his arms and hugged him with bruising strength.  
  
"Thank you. Oh, thank you."  
  
Her face was pressed against his neck, and he could feel hot tears against his skin. Wrapping his arms around her as best he could with the wings on her back, he held her gently and murmured soothingly to her.  
  
"Shhh, it's okay. Everything will be okay."  
  
He looked up at the other man, and found him watching them with a small smile on his face. Catching the devil's eye, Ianto gave a nod. Yes, everything would be okay now.  
  
The transfer of the wings turned out to be quite simple and straightforward. Ianto produced a small bag of salt from one of his pockets and used it to draw a circle on the floor of Maze's bedroom. At the man's suggestion, Lucifer took off his suit jacket and shirt, and then he and his demon stepped into the circle.  
  
Ianto directed them to face each other and grasp each other's forearms. Then he pulled out a small knife, pricked his finger with it, and let a few drops of blood fall onto the circle, sealing it. Lucifer could feel it, a change in the atmosphere, the energy of the room. From the look in her eyes, Maze felt it, too.  
  
And then her friend began speaking in a language even the devil could not understand. But he could feel the power in the words, swirling around them, thrumming, seeping into them. And suddenly, there was a strange, tingling, pulling sensation on his back, and as Ianto spoke a few last words and then solemnly clapped his hands three times, Lucifer felt the rush of wings, his wings, unfolding behind him. Looking at Maze, he saw that the wings at her back had disappeared, and that his demon was staring wide-eyed over his shoulder.  
  
Ianto stepped forward and dragged the tip of one shoe through the line of salt, breaking the circle and allowing the energy to dissipate. The moment it did, Maze released her hold on Lucifer's forearms and pulled him into a hug.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Reaching up, she pulled his head down and kissed him deeply. Lucifer responded eagerly, wrapping his arms around her, stroking her once again wing-free back. It felt good to hold her and kiss her. He realized how much he had missed this, missed her. Missed their old, close relationship. Hopefully, he would be able to repair that, too.  
  
After a few moments, Maze reluctantly pulled away from him and turned to her friend, who was once again watching them with a smile.  
  
"Thank you, Ianto, for your help. I don't know what we would have done without you."  
  
She pulled him into a hug and gave him a kiss, though Lucifer was somewhat relieved to see that it was just a quick, chaste peck on the lips.  
  
Ianto just chuckled. "Always glad to be able to help a friend."  
  
Maze released her hold on him and turned back to the devil, studying him and his new wings.  
  
"Are you alright with them?"  
  
Lucifer smiled. "Yes, Maze. I'm alright."  
  
He flexed the wings slightly, mindful of the limited space in her room. "They're as good as my old ones."  
  
Lucifer really concentrated on how the wings felt, and then corrected himself. "No. They're better than my old ones. Infinitely better."  
  
Seeing his demon's questioning look, he explained. "No connection to my father. All the power of my old wings, but no bloody leash tying me to him." A look of awe spread across his face at the realization. "I'm free of him. Really free."  
  
"Not a bad gift Maze gave you there, is it?" Ianto asked, a small smirk turning up the corners of his mouth.  
  
"No, definitely not bad. Wonderful. Marvelous. Absolutely bloody fantastic!" He laughed at the pure, exhilarating pleasure of it all, and then turned to his demon and gave her a soft smile. "Thank you, Mazikeen, for this great gift. I owe you for that."  
  
Maze shook her head. "No. You helped me. I'm just glad the wings are not a burden on you."  
  
"Maze, you are my friend." Lucifer paused a moment when he saw the way his demon startled at this statement, realizing that he had never before acknowledged her as his friend. Yet another thing he needed to correct. He continued. "After everything you have done for me over the many years we have known each other, helping you with this was the least I could do. And your friend Ianto is right. These wings are an incredible gift for me, and you have given them to me. It doesn't matter that you did it because you wanted to get rid of them. I do owe you for them."  
  
With that, he stepped up to her, pulled her into his arms and kissed her. When he broke the kiss, he held her close and murmured into her ear. "I promise you, my darling Mazikeen, that from now on I will be a better friend to you than I have been. I know I've treated you badly in the past, and I hope you will give me a chance to do better in the future."  
  
In response, Maze gave him a beaming smile and once again kissed him deeply. A soft cough reminded them that they were not alone. Ianto smiled at them.  
  
"Well, since it seems that everything is cleared up here, I'll be going now."  
  
He stepped up to them and Maze pulled away from Lucifer to give her friend another hug.  
  
"Bye, Ianto. Let me know when you're in town again."  
  
"Goodbye, Mazikeen. I think I'll see you again, soon."  
  
Then Lucifer found the man looking straight at him.  
  
"Lucifer. I suspect I'll be seeing you, too, next time I'm in town."  
  
The devil nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."  
  
They briefly shook hands, and then Ianto took a step back and, with a soft sound like rustling leaves, simply vanished from the room. For a moment, a faint scent of a pine forest on a hot summer day hung in the air.  
  
Lucifer gaped at the suddenly empty spot, and then turned to his demon.  
  
"Alright. Who the Hell is this guy, and how do you know him?"  
  
Maze smirked slightly. "His name's Ianto, and he is my friend. As to how I know him, that's a story for another day."  
  
"Maze. Who and what is this guy." The devil barely managed to suppress a growl.  
  
His demon just shrugged. "Look, I don't really know much about him. He's kind of tight-lipped about his past, and his work. As for what he is, well you heard him. He doesn't know exactly himself. All I can tell you is that he says his name is Ianto Jones, he's apparently Welsh, and he seems to be a secret agent of some sort. Or a former one, at any rate. He really, really doesn't want to talk about it. As for what he is, well, he looks human, and while he is strong and has extremely fast reflexes for a human, there doesn't seem to be anything supernatural about it. Same with his other senses. Very good for a human, but no more than that."  
  
"That doesn't explain how he just appeared in your room, and disappeared again."  
  
"No. I have seen him do this before, and I think he has some magical abilities. But when I asked him about it, the only answer I got was 'Clarke's Law'. Whatever that is supposed to mean."  
  
"He's probably referring to Arthur C. Clarke's third law: 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Which tells us precisely nothing. It could mean he is using some sort of technology to teleport. Or he could be using magic or some innate ability, and throw out Clarke's Law as a smokescreen."  
  
Lucifer gave an irritated sigh. His demon just chuckled. "That's typical Ianto. He's a genius at deflection, distraction and obfuscation. I doubt even you could get anything out of him that he doesn't want to tell you."  
  
The devil raised his eyebrows. "Is that a challenge, my darling Maze?"  
  
She just smirked at him. Before Lucifer could delve deeper into the topic, there was a knock on the door, and Detective Decker's voice could be heard.  
  
"Is everything alright with you in there?"  
  
He bit back a curse. With everything that had happened, he had completely forgotten that she was out there. Maze did not hold back, cursing colorfully but quietly. Lucifer quirked up an eyebrow at some of the more creative expressions she used, wondering where she had learned them. When Decker knocked again, he called out to her: "Everything's fine, Detective. Give us a few minutes."  
  
"What do we do now?" Maze hissed at him. "She'll want an explanation."  
  
He sighed. "I know. We could tell her that it's a private matter, of course, but I doubt if she would accept it."  
  
"No chance. She'll keep pestering and prodding both of us until she gets an answer that makes sense to her. And if we refuse to tell her, she'll be hurt."  
  
"I know. And I don't want that, but this is your story. I'm not telling her anything if you don't want me to."  
  
Maze looked up at him gratefully. "Thank you. But it's your story, too. And besides, I don't want to hurt her. I really don't know what to do."  
  
"I suppose we could just tell her the truth."  
  
"No." The demon shook her head adamantly.  
  
"Maze. You know she'll have to know about us eventually. Don't you want her to know the truth?" Lucifer asked gently, trying to understand his demon's vehement refusal.  
  
"I do. But not today. Please, Lucifer. I don't think I could handle it today." She sounded exhausted, stressed, and desperate.  
  
"Shhh, it's okay. Not today. We'll tell her some other time."  
  
Once again, Lucifer pulled her into his arms and held her close. Maze leaned into the embrace, her head resting against his shoulder. He rubbed her back gently and gradually felt her relax. After a while, she pulled away again.  
  
"So, what do we tell Chloe?"  
  
Lucifer thought for a moment. "How about we tell her that you had a little accident, and needed my help to deal with it?"  
  
"She'll want to know what kind of accident."  
  
The devil smirked. "Leave that to me. I'll make certain that she won't ask you any questions. And if she does, just tell her that you are fine and don't want to talk about it."  
  
His demon eyed him suspiciously. "Just what exactly are you planning to tell her?"  
  
"I'll strongly imply that the accident involved one of your toys." Lucifer grinned mischievously. "I think that should be enough to prevent any further questions, wouldn't you agree?"  
  
Maze chuckled. "Okay, yeah, that should work. Good idea."  
  
She paused and looked at him. "Especially if you go out there shirtless."  
  
Now it was Lucifer's turn to chuckle. "I don't think that will be necessary."  
  
With that, he tucked away his new wings, and put his shirt and suit jacket back on. He walked over to the door, but then hesitated.  
  
"Are you going to be alright here? Maybe it would be better if you came back to the penthouse with me, and spent the day there."  
  
Maze shrugged. "I'm fine, now that I've gotten rid of the wings. But if you think it's better that I come with you, or if you want me to keep you company..." She trailed off, but then looked at him searchingly. "How are you doing? You're the one with new wings."  
  
"I'm fine. After all, with the exception of the last five years, I've had wings all my life. I know how to deal with them." Lucifer paused for a moment as something occurred to him. "Which reminds me, I'm afraid I will require regular help from you from now on."  
  
Maze raised a quizzical eyebrow.  
  
"With the wings, I mean. You know, bathing and grooming, and so on. It's bloody awkward to do on my own, and I'm certainly not asking my brother for help."  
  
"Oh. Of course I'll help you with that!" Maze sounded positively eager, making Lucifer chuckle.  
  
"You always liked that job, didn't you? You just love to get your hands on my wings."  
  
His demon arched an eyebrow at him. "Are you complaining?"  
  
"Certainly not, my darling. I look forward to enjoying your ministrations again." Lucifer was practically purring as he remembered how much fun he and his demon used to have with his wings. Yes, he was certainly looking forward to doing those things again.  
  
Maze's thoughts seemed to be on the same memories, as she was grinning broadly.  
  
"Perhaps it would be a good idea for me to come to the penthouse with you, after all."  
  
The devil grinned at her. "My darling Maze, I like the way you think." He pressed a quick, hard kiss to her lips and then turned to the door. "Alright, let me take care of the Detective, and then the two of us are heading back to my place."  
  
With that, he left the room to confront Detective Decker.  
  
Ten minutes later, the devil and his demon were in his Corvette, driving towards LUX, looking forward to some fun times with his new wings.

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I end up re-watching Torchwood and Lucifer season 1 at the same time. I decided to steal Ianto and the faeries from Torchwood canon, and let them wreak havoc in the Lucifer world. ;)
> 
> In this reality, Ianto is still alive and well, and also not human, or at least not completely human. Whether or not he still works for Torchwood, and whether Torchwood even still exists, is kept purposely vague. Maze doesn't know, and frankly doesn't especially care.


End file.
